Do away with honoring different fare schedules?

I don't know which is yea and which is nay, but keep the price drops!

What if the cruiseline (or airline) offers a guarantee that if a fare is booked 6 or 9 months out it will be the lowest fare for that category?

You know you're getting the best price and there is no longer a need to do any checking?

When I book airfare, the price I pay at the time of booking remains the price I have paid by the time I fly. If there is a fare drop, I can't call my airline and ask for credit.

 

With Carnival, I spend a lot of time researching fares, watching for price drops, filling out forms and phoning for credit. As I usually book cruises 9 months to a year out, and have 3 or 4 booked at a time, this means I spend quite a lot of time checking prices.

 

My question is would you be happier if Carnival adopted the airlines' policy of the price you book is the price you pay?

 

I certainly enjoy getting credit for fare drops, but I might also gain several weeks of my life back a year if I didn't have to check fares so often.

 

Yea or Nay?

Actually most airlines do allow you to make changes, which would include changing to a lower fare if one is published; however, most require a change fee to do that though which makes it worthless. Southwest Airlines is the exception because they do not charge those money-grabbing change fees. SWA is smart because they give the price drop back to you as a credit which makes you more likely to book with them next time you fly since you'll likely want to use your credit. Which is why I choose Southwest Airlines without exception, and another reason for that is they don't charge baggage fees which is another way their competitors nickel and dime their customers which I despise.

I think if you don't want to fool with price drops, simply stop checking for them and you've imposed your own rules change which doesn't affect the rest of us.

So I say nay.

In all of our cruises (12 or so), I've only qualified for a price drop once.

I usually shop the heck out of the cruise before booking and get it at the lowest fare.

In fact, our upcoming cruise is a cove balcony on Magic and the current rate is $700 more than we paid.

Keep the policy as is. I'll keep checking for that elusive price reduction with no qualms. :D

Fares haven't been dropping lately. I have 3 booked and nothing but price increases.

What if the cruiseline (or airline) offers a guarantee that if a fare is booked 6 or 9 months out it will be the lowest fare for that category?

 

You know you're getting the best price and there is no longer a need to do any checking?

That would require them to guess in advance how well bookings will be for that specific flight or cruise. If sales are not going well and they then want to fill the flight or cruise they would not be able to reduce fares below the price already given as the guaranteed lowest. I can't see them taking that chance.

I agree with those that say keep it as it is. If anyone doesn't want to take the time to watch for lower fares, then just don't, nobody forces you to except yourself.

I agree with those that say keep it as it is.

This is my thought also. Since Early Saver, we have booked all our cruises that way. I periodically check Fare Viewer and have had some real nice price drops and/or OBC.

I also agree with cruisinpsychRN with respect to most of our booked cruises are increasing in price, so I look at it like we got a good price to start with.

So just doing a hypothetical here.... Suppose they DID adopt a policy of "they price you pay is it... The end"... Would you really spend less time checking? Would it REALLY make for less stress and less time spent checking? I think not, for example, instead of regularly checking, comparing the rate you booked to the current rate, you would be constantly checking each time a sale came up to see if it was better than the LAST sale... However, if the last sale was less, then Your stressed cause you "missed it". Pluse indecision... Thinking "am I booking at the lowest or will it go lower, let me wait and see... Oops, gone!

Second, this policy is a win win for the consumer and the cruise line. If a cruise line has a ship that the "anticipated" a lot of demand for but it is in reality not selling at the prices they ask, they have the flexibility to lower, at the same time, they can judge the demand for a ship and take the opportunity to pre-sell half the cabins because people are not afraid to book early knowing that they are not trapped into that price if it goes down.

Now the latest supply/demand ratios have played into the favor of the consumer to book early, and there are fewer "last minute" offerings. Additionally, what used to be offered as cheap last minute are being allotted instead to casino bouncebackmandnfree cruises so they can insure that "spenders" are getting the spare cabins, not the cheapskates who generally don't spend onboard anyway...

Big Nay.

When I book airfare, the price I pay at the time of booking remains the price I have paid by the time I fly. If there is a fare drop, I can't call my airline and ask for credit.

 

With Carnival, I spend a lot of time researching fares, watching for price drops, filling out forms and phoning for credit. As I usually book cruises 9 months to a year out, and have 3 or 4 booked at a time, this means I spend quite a lot of time checking prices.

 

My question is would you be happier if Carnival adopted the airlines' policy of the price you book is the price you pay?

 

I certainly enjoy getting credit for fare drops, but I might also gain several weeks of my life back a year if I didn't have to check fares so often.

 

Yea or Nay?

Two different industries.

If you are wasting that much time, there are services including some travel agents who will do it for you.

When I book airfare, the price I pay at the time of booking remains the price I have paid by the time I fly. If there is a fare drop, I can't call my airline and ask for credit.

 

With Carnival, I spend a lot of time researching fares, watching for price drops, filling out forms and phoning for credit. As I usually book cruises 9 months to a year out, and have 3 or 4 booked at a time, this means I spend quite a lot of time checking prices.

 

My question is would you be happier if Carnival adopted the airlines' policy of the price you book is the price you pay?

 

I certainly enjoy getting credit for fare drops, but I might also gain several weeks of my life back a year if I didn't have to check fares so often.

 

Yea or Nay?

Since you have 3-4 cruises booked at a time, then it will take some time to check them all out. I have 1 cruise, usually, and I have Fareviewer bookmarked whereby, all I have to do is click it and the template comes right up for me to check it out. Not a problem. Just takes a few seconds and I check every day.

not sure I understand your dillemna

 

if you want, when you book it, treat it like the final cost and never look at any drops. then you get the policy of no price drops

 

if you want, look for price drops and that means spending time and effort to get a discount

 

you can have the best of both worlds right now. no need to change. stop looking and get your life back now if you want

OP's dilemma is simple they don't mind if someone else gets the cruise cheaper, as long as they can blame it on Carnival.

Want to save money but don't want to work for it. Sorry OP, you can't have it both ways.

Fares haven't been dropping lately. I have 3 booked and nothing but price increases.

I agree. Carnival's pricing strategy has changed. Price drops are becoming more infrequent, and if they do occur a cabin guarantee is usually involved.

You are not being curved to check. I usually have a few cruisers bolted and only takes a few minutes to check rates.

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No one is forcing you to check for price drops. If it's a burden, takes up so much of your time just don't do it. Leave it at the rate your booked.

This and I don't mind looking for price drops.

What airlines do you deal with? I was not aware that some still did this(other than Southwest).

 

I like the price drops, nothing worse than thinking you got a good deal on flights then to have the price drop a considerable ammount a cpl days later.

With the major air carriers the price drop has to be greater than the change fee, so to get any price drop, you need a reduction of at least $200 on domestic tickets and sometimes up to $450 on international tickets. And, it is a real hassle.

Southwest handles it differently since they have no change fee.

When I book airfare, the price I pay at the time of booking remains the price I have paid by the time I fly. If there is a fare drop, I can't call my airline and ask for credit.

 

With Carnival, I spend a lot of time researching fares, watching for price drops, filling out forms and phoning for credit. As I usually book cruises 9 months to a year out, and have 3 or 4 booked at a time, this means I spend quite a lot of time checking prices.

 

My question is would you be happier if Carnival adopted the airlines' policy of the price you book is the price you pay?

 

I certainly enjoy getting credit for fare drops, but I might also gain several weeks of my life back a year if I didn't have to check fares so often.

 

Yea or Nay?

nay. i like the thought of the possibility of getting a reduction in my cabin price.

I appreciate everyone's responses, even the totally inane one accusing me of wanting a motive to blame Carnival. All that showed was a lack of reading comprehension on that poster's part.

I realize change is hard, and we naturally cling to our normal behavioral routines. I just find it amazing that in our data driven economy, cruise lines can't find a simpler way of dealing with price drops. Yes, I love them, I said that in my original post.

Yes, I use a travel agent when I have complicated plans like a land and sea tour combined in Alaska, the Med, or for a 6 week vacation in Australia and New Zealand. I forego a TA for a simple Caribbean cruise.

Maybe getting automatic fare reductions can be worked into the details of Carnival's next version Loyalty Club for Platinum's and Diamond cruisers?

When I book airfare, the price I pay at the time of booking remains the price I have paid by the time I fly. If there is a fare drop, I can't call my airline and ask for credit.

 

With Carnival, I spend a lot of time researching fares, watching for price drops, filling out forms and phoning for credit. As I usually book cruises 9 months to a year out, and have 3 or 4 booked at a time, this means I spend quite a lot of time checking prices.

 

My question is would you be happier if Carnival adopted the airlines' policy of the price you book is the price you pay?

 

I certainly enjoy getting credit for fare drops, but I might also gain several weeks of my life back a year if I didn't have to check fares so often.

 

Yea or Nay?

You can use *************** to track all of your cruises. It will email you when prices drop

When I book airfare, the price I pay at the time of booking remains the price I have paid by the time I fly. If there is a fare drop, I can't call my airline and ask for credit.

 

With Carnival, I spend a lot of time researching fares, watching for price drops, filling out forms and phoning for credit. As I usually book cruises 9 months to a year out, and have 3 or 4 booked at a time, this means I spend quite a lot of time checking prices.

 

My question is would you be happier if Carnival adopted the airlines' policy of the price you book is the price you pay?

 

I certainly enjoy getting credit for fare drops, but I might also gain several weeks of my life back a year if I didn't have to check fares so often.

 

Yea or Nay?

Nay. I love getting price drops. I'm retired so it's no big deal to check frequently.

Nay......I also bring back sales receipts when items go on sale, clip coupons, etc.....every penny I can get back, goes to my cruise addiction.

Empty nester, so I have all the time I need:D

You can use *************** to track all of your cruises. It will email you when prices drop

ty - I've tried a few of the alert systems for price drops with so so results...sometimes the notification arrived too late.

Nay. I love getting price drops. I'm retired so it's no big deal to check frequently.

I've been retired for almost 4 years now - but I'm away a lot and don't always stay wired when I go to a resort or on a cruise.

I would rather get the absolutely lowest price when I book or have the cruise line automatically issue a credit if the fare decreases.

My concern would be that if the cruise lines agreed to automatically credit you for a decrease in the fare then they would also add a codicil to the contract reserving the right to automatically charge you if the fare increases. At least the way it is now we don't have to deal with that, and if vigilant, can still take the decreases.